WICKED MERCEDES-AMG GT S HAS IMSA AERO AND 860 HP

Products that come out of Mercedes-AMG aren’t what you’d call, “reserved.” These Black Forest-born loons are known for their stupendous power, dynamic and racy exteriors, and sumptuous interiors.

They are, in most respects, the pinnacle of performance and luxury. Yet, the mad engineers at IMSA (not the racing series) believe AMG’s top-spec sportscar, the AMG GT S, is all too tame. Meet the IMSA RXR One.

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The tuner is based in Bruggen, Germany, and was first made famous through its tuning of Lamborghini Gallardos and Murcielagos, but switched to solely tuning Mercedes-Benz’s a few years ago.

Its latest project is the RXR One you see here. As mentioned earlier, it’s based on a AMG GT S, but IMSA has thoroughly went through the car and made it resemble Mercedes-Benz’s GT4 racecar, although power is definitely up.

The RXR One features the same 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 found in the base car, but the tuner has significantly turned up its wick and the engine now produces 860 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque.

Performance metrics haven’t been released, but given that the standard car can hit 60 mph in just 3.5 seconds and it only has 503 horsepower, we’re guessing with the help of wider tires, and a claimed weight reduction of over 600 pounds, the RXR One is now punching into supercar territory.

To cope with the newly acquired power, IMSA says it also modified the AMG GT S’ gearbox by replacing the clutch packs, and added a new forged drive shaft to send all that power to the rear wheels.